Last weekend, Sept. 9–10, Middlebury golf started the fall season on the right foot. The men’s squad took to I-125 and headed northwest to play in the Middlebury Fall Classic at Lake Placid Golf Club in Lake Placid, N.Y., where the team placed second in the opener. The women’s side also finished second, as they headed about two hours further northwest on the interstate to Canton, N.Y., where they took part in the St. Lawrence Invitational held on the St. Lawrence University campus.
The highlight of the weekend for the women’s team had to be their day-one-to-day-two split. After shooting a collective 312 on Saturday, the Panthers came out strong on Sunday to shoot a 303, and their nine-stroke improvement from Saturday to Sunday was the best out of the 11-team field.
“The conditions were wet all weekend,” said Katharine Fortin ’18. “The course had been saturated in late summer and a considerable amount of rain fell on Friday, leaving us with a wet and muddy course. However, wet conditions mean shooting at the pin and going for birdies. Everyone faced the same conditions, and the driving range was closed, so no player could hit balls prior to playing (only putting and chipping). This affected our play on Saturday, but we were much looser on Sunday and were able to shoot better scores. This course demands informed shot-making, so seeing the course on Saturday definitely had a positive impact on Sunday’s scores.”
Fortin, the mainstay and consistent backbone of the roster, led the way for this improvement. Fortin has already enjoyed quite a decorated career teeing off for the Panthers, finished the first weekend of her senior fall with her lowest collegiate round by shooting a 73 on Sunday.
“I am very excited that my best collegiate round fell on a weekend that the team was also on their game,” Fortin said. “In previous tournaments, I could not get below the 76 number, and coming at the start of my senior season makes this 73 feel extra sweet. As always, there’s work to be done, but we’re celebrating this one.”
Alongside the senior was Chloe Levins ’20, who is sure to avoid a sophomore slump. She tallied the lowest round of her career on Saturday as she also shot a 73. This was quite the way for the Vermont native to begin a campaign in which she will aim to defend her crown as the individual Nescac champion on Oct. 7–8 when the best of the conference take to the course in Williamstown, Mass.
“Patience was key this weekend,” Levins said. “After a summer of good practice, it was important to go into this weekend without expectations. Even though a lot of putts didn’t fall, I played solid golf, stayed patient, and kept it all in perspective. I’m happy to have started the season on a good track.”
Familiarity with the course played a factor in the team’s round-over-round improvement.
“A lot of the team had never seen the course until Saturday morning,” Levins said. “In general, shooting 312 and 303 as a team is a really good indicator of solid work over the offseason and good things to come from Middlebury women’s golf.”
Helen Dailey ’19 joined Levins and Fortin as Panthers who enjoyed a day-to-day stroke improvement, as she followed an 80 on Saturday with a round of 77 on Sunday. Hope Matthews ’18 shot an 80 on day one and an 82 on day two, slightly off the average pace she set last season. Blake Yaccino ’20 had a solid weekend for the Panthers, shooting a 76 on Saturday and an 80 on Sunday. Yaccino figures to play a big role in whether the Panthers will have success this fall, so the team will need her to consistently play the way she did last weekend going forward.
The men’s tournament in Lake Placid was only a one day event. The Panthers’ second-place finish was spearheaded by 2016 individual Nescac champion Bennett Doherty ’18 and Jeff Giguere ’20.
Giguere picked up right where he left off last season when he wrapped up the campaign with strong showings at the Williams Spring Invitational and at Nescacs. He shot a 74, his second-best round thus far in his young Panther career.
“I do think this is a baseline for me,” Giguere said. “Over the summer, I played in a few tournaments and my performance there was consistent with the score I shot this weekend. I do think I can still shave shots from my game.”
Graham Kenter ’18.5 also had a strong showing for the Panthers, as carded 78 that ties the lowest he has tallied as a Panther.
Despite the strong performances from Doherty, Giguere and Kenter, the Panthers still finished nine strokes back of the defending Nescac champions, Williams, providing all the motivation Middlebury needs to continue working on its game.
“Looking back on this weekend, I have found some areas of my game that need improvement and I will work hard this fall to tighten them up,” Giguere said. “Overall, I am pleased with how both the team and I started off the season. We can only get better from here.”
Knowing the team has ground to gain on Williams, Doherty shared Giguere’s sentiment.
“Williams has a lot of great players,” Doherty said. “Any one of them could end up on the top of any given leaderboard. But I think everyone on our team is capable of finding themselves atop the leaderboard as well. I think to close the gap on Williams we will just have to focus on getting better each and every day. We have a pretty balanced team this year and I know that as we improve together we will be right there with them.”
With Ben Bichet ’19, Phil Morin ’19 and Reid Buzby ’19 all abroad for the fall semester, and with the Ephs remaining as the team to beat, the Panthers need someone to step up and be a dark horse to bring Nescacs back to the Ralph next May. When asked who it might be that steps up for the Panthers, Giguere and Doherty offered that everyone looks to be playing good golf and positioned well, but that David Packer ’20 is someone to keep an eye on.
“I would like to see Packer play well and I think he’s got the ability to do so,” Giguere said, complimenting his sophomore teammate.
“It was great to see David Packer win his two matches this weekend and I think he will keep getting better,” Doherty said, also starting to look ahead to the upcoming Duke Nelson Invitational. “It will be fun to see everyone play in our Duke Nelson tournament this weekend and I look forward to the addition of our first-years as well.”
The men’s team will be back in action this weekend, Sept. 16–17, as they are set to host the 34th annual Duke Nelson Invitational at the Ralph. The women’s team will hit the road once again and head to Wellesley, Mass., where they will take part in the annual Ann S. Batchelder.
